Insights in the first two seconds of 'space'

 Jooyun Kim's 

Spacebranding vol.31

"Spatial 'experience' is imprinted in the brain. Good experiences will be remembered as pleasure, bad experiences will remain as bitter memories, and everyday and ordinary experiences will be easily forgotten."

<An opportunity to build a brand impression 'space'>

When we hear something unpleasant, it goes beyond hate to anger. Visual images are also language. The spatial image is also a language. The spatial image should be remembered as a positive image for people. The "experience" of space is imprinted on the brain. Here is the importance. Good experiences will be remembered as joy, bad experiences will remain as unpleasant memories, and mundane and ordinary experiences will be easily forgotten.

If a company is resulting in an unpleasant experience for consumers in dealing with space, there should be an active and immediate response to improve the dimension of remembered consumer awareness. Space is relatively expensive. When space is a commodity, it is the most expensive commodity. That expensive experience should never be ordinary.

<Vessel> Hudson Yards, New York ©Jooyun Kim

For a successful space for business, the fundamental question of ‘Why create a space?’ is the top priority. Then, it should start with a practical and angular question, "What kind of experience do you want consumers to experience?" The reason is that all experiences in space remain as memories. Business brands should actively use space as an opportunity to build business impressions.

<Vessel> Hudson Yards, New York ©Jooyun Kim

Why is the experience of space special to humans? Why do our bodies remember space so special? In the previous article, we talked about evolutionary psychological humans. We are moved by the delicious steak. The sizzling sound of juicy beef placed on a wooden cast plate bowl, the smell that stimulates the salivary glands, the soft, clean touch of the tablecloth and the cold touch of the fork knife, and the happy sensation that spreads in the last mouth, all this process comprehensively creates a steak experience.

<Vessel> Hudson Yards, New York ©Jooyun Kim

We tend to think that only the sense of the tongue has to do with the taste of food. However, in fact, the atmosphere of the restaurant, the sounds of conversations by people around us, the impressions of the staff, the location of the table where you sit, the taste of the food, and the smell from the kitchen, all five sensory organs of our body are involved. 

It turns out that when we cover our noses and eat onion juice, it is difficult to distinguish between onion juice and apple juice by taste alone. 

In the taste of onions, the irritation of the nose caused by smell was a more important factor in determining the taste. When we experience something like this, our sensory organs all complement each other and strengthen one central sense. In terms of food, all sensory organs complementarily make memories of the food. Space experience is the same as food experience.

<Insights in the first two seconds of 'space'>

In fact, what kind of sensory organs do we experience in space? Should I just experience it with my eyes? Human spatial experience indeed depends in large part on vision. In fact, two-thirds of all stimuli transmitted to the brain are visual.1) Our eyes are very complex, but when visual information is transmitted to the brain, activities such as emotion, memory, control, and learning occur simultaneously.

In particular, the orbital frontal lobe behind the eye is known to cause emotional compensation and pleasure, which is said to be activated when we see beautiful things. This part of the brain creates a 'feel' that makes us feel beautiful when we see something beautiful. Malcolm Gladwell calls this 'feel' the insight of 'the first two seconds of penetrating the core' in his book <Blink>.2)

Chelsea Market, Manhattan, New York ©Jooyun Kim

Returning to the question above, does only sight create a 'feel' of spatial experience? Like experiencing food, the spatial experience is expanded and strengthened along with other sensory organs that help vision.3) In other words, the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are all mobilized to become experiential memories and spatial experiences that are meaningful to each individual. Participate and experience are similar but different. Professor Kim Kwang-hyun of Seoul National University divides the 'participate' and 'experience' of space as follows.

Chelsea Market, Manhattan, New York ©Jooyun Kim

Chelsea Market, Manhattan, New York ©Jooyun Kim

"Experience and experience are not clearly distinguished, but experience means 'the knowledge or skills you have actually experienced or experienced or acquired there' and participate means 'personal aspirations or such experiences'. Experience focuses on personal gain, and participate focuses on the process that has passed. Experience is to feel the situation only with your body, but experience adds thought to the experience and makes it your own." 4) Experience is created by connecting participates with one's own reflection, things that have already been experienced, or things that have been accumulated through prior experiences. Ultimately, spatial experiences are created through spatial participate.

<5 Summaries>

"Good experiences will be remembered as joy, bad experiences will remain as unpleasant memories, and mundane and ordinary experiences will be easily forgotten."

"For a successful business space, the fundamental question of 'why should we create space?' is the top priority."

"The brain creates a 'sense' that makes people feel beautiful when they see something beautiful. This 'sense' is what Malcolm Gladwell called 'the first two seconds of penetrating the core' insight."

"Space is relatively expensive. When space is a commodity, it is the most expensive commodity. That expensive experience should never be ordinary."

“All experiences in the space remain as memories, so businesses and brands should actively utilize the space as an opportunity to build a business impression.”

1) Dan Hill, body of truth : leveraging what consumers can't or won't say, Wiley, 2003, pp.13
2) Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Back Bay Books, Little, Brown, 
3) Yi-Fu Tuan, Space and place, Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2001((first published 1977), pp.34
4) 김광현 지음, "건축강의 1_건축이라는 가능성", 안그라픽스, 2018.02.20., 42쪽